Nissan plans electric cars in U.S.

Nissan Motor Co. said it aims to produce more than 100,000 electric cars per year in the U.S. by 2012, part of the auto maker’s plan to mass-market a lineup of zero-emission vehicles world-wide in coming years. Nissan, Japan’s third-biggest auto maker by sales volume, will make electric cars and the lithium-ion batteries to power them at its plant in Smyrna, Tenn., Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters after the company’s annual shareholders meeting Tuesday. Nissan will unveil its electric vehicle on Aug. 2, and begin production in Japan in the fall of 2010, starting at 50,000 units per year, the company said. It is also exploring electric-vehicle and battery-production sites around the globe, with manufacturing in the U.S. expected to begin in 2011 or 2012 in Tennessee. If Nissan’s bet on electric vehicles is a success, it could help the company catch up to Japanese rivals Toyota and Honda Motor Co., which have a significant lead in producing highly fuel-efficient, gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles such as the Prius and Insight. Separately, Toyota board members Tuesday officially selected Akio Toyoda as the company’s new president, as the car maker struggles to recover from huge losses and a global auto-sales slump. (June 24, 2009)